Please join a groundbreaking initiative to limit the
confinement of pigs on factory farms in Florida, specifically by banning
the use of gestation crates. These small metal enclosures used to keep
pregnant (i.e. gestating) pigs are just two feet wide, and the pigs are
confined so tightly that they cannot walk or even turn around. Gestation
crates allow hundreds or thousands of pigs to be housed in close
quarters, and this results in a massive accumulation of waste which
threatens the environment.

Gestation crates are so cruel that they have been
outlawed in other countries, but tragically, they remain common in the
United States, including in Florida. Like all animals, pigs experience
pain and suffering, and they deserve at the very least to be treated
with a minimum of humane care. But unfortunately, animals exploited for
food in the U.S. have been excluded from most state anti-cruelty laws.
It cannot be humane if a female pig is kept in a constant state of
pregnancy and confined in a tiny crate for her entire life.

Meetings are now being scheduled throughout Florida to
train volunteers for a November 7th signature gathering kickoff at the
voting precincts around the state. We will need to collect over 500,000
signatures over the next year and a half to place this measure on the
ballot in Florida for the November, 2002 election.

We hope you can help and would appreciate anything you
can do to recruit volunteers. For more information, please see: http://www.bancruelfarms.org.

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